The municipal government and companies from Yangquan city in North China's Shanxi province held an innovation and development symposium on Sept 4 with 37 companies from Zhongguancun Software Park -- based in Beijing and also known as China's Silicon Valley. 

The companies from Beijing are involved in emerging industries such as big data, cloud computing, smart cities, artificial intelligence and the internet of things.

Jiang Siqing, Party chief of Yangquan, urged entrepreneurs from Zhongguancun Software Park to increase business in broader fields and at a higher level with Yangquan and invest in Yangquan city.

Representatives from the Yangquan Economic and Technological Development Zone and Xinyuan Co -- a subsidiary of Yangquan Coal Industry Group -- made recommendations at the symposium about the Yungu Science and Technology Park, investment promotion policies and 5G applications. 

Entrepreneurs from Zhongguancun Software Park gave briefings on their business and developments, discussing details about potential cooperation with Yangquan's government and local companies.

They said the event aimed to promote collaboration between upstream and downstream industries and create innovation benchmarks in various sectors.

This could be done through the integration and extension of industry supply chains, as well as increasing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region through scientific and technological services, they added.